Day 2 - Sunday Aug 31, 2008

We woke up around 7 AM (that seems to be what happens when you go to bed around 9PM). We had plans to meet Jasmine around 10:30 to go to church with her (she attends the church that runs the school) but there was plenty of time to wake up and try to learn our way around things in the apartment and learn how much there is to figure out. First it turns out that instead of shampoo, which we intended to use as all purpose hand soap/body wash/shampoo to start out with... was actually conditioner. It's an odd thing to wash with conditioner, it doesn't have quite the same effect. There was no real way to know given the bottle, and our superintendent laughed and told us he's done the same thing in the past when we told him later on. We managed to figure out the stove (it's a couple of those flat countertop electric elements) which somehow wasn't entirely plugged in underneath the cupboards, and we played a bit with the video intercom. I even managed to set off some kind of alarm with it (it has a pile of buttons with no english labels and I was trying to turn it off with the biggest button). Fortunately no security came storming up or anything and we managed to shut it off somehow... After a breakfast of eggs and toast we were ready when Jasmine showed up to introduce us to the subway.

The subway system in Seoul is really, really... huge. I've seen the Toronto TTC subway map and you could fit it in a small corner of the map we looked at yesterday. Subway fares are fairly low. It's either a dollar per trip (1,000 KRW) or if you buy access cards (kind of 'pay as you go') for $2.50 you can fill them as often as you like and trips are reduced to $0.90 each. We managed to get through this process thanks to having Jasmine there to translate a bit. We both got the cards and were set to go.

The church (which is the same building as the kindergarten we teach) is only 15 minutes away by subway so it's really easy to get there. We're already learning our way around a bit. Sadly there was no translator at church on Sunday so there was little we could do to follow the service. Afterwards though, we were greeted by many members of the church who were very happy to see us. We managed to meet with our superintendent afterwards for lunch (he took us ot a little Japanese place nearby) and then met up again with Jasmine to talk about the kindergarten itself. We were loaded up with books and curriculum... it's amazing how much organization she's put into it, and considering we're starting Monday it's a bit up-in-the-air still where we have ideas on how it should be but no laid out lesson plan (we're probably going to have to adjust anything we already know anyway).

The classes are very small to start out as it seems many parents want to see the presence of a western teacher before they commit to putting their children in the school (some of the private hagwans make big promises about things and don't end up even getting western teachers, so there's a little bit of caution on the side of parents). Right now, Kay is the 5 year old (4 by our age system) home room teacher, I'm teaching the 6 (5) year olds, and Jasmine has the 4(3) year olds, including her own son. On top of this, during the day we rotate with given subjects. I'm kind of the official phonics/reading/literacy teacher, and also the science teacher. Kay teaches math and works with students on the 'thematic project' which will vary from week to week and really just be a series of interactive or artistic things to do with the students involving whatever the theme of the week is.

The rest of our day involved finding a really good grocery market area about a 5 minute walk from where we lived (after wandering blindly for a bit) and coming home with a few more foodstuffs to round out the menu. I also ended up with a fever during the night, but I managed to sleep it off and was ready for the first day of school (though I still have a lingering cough).